Online Torah Classes with Rabbi Mendy Goldberg

Lesson 2 The quest for facts Do sages make assumptions about how reality works, or do they investigate the facts? Follow rabbis as they conduct five fascinating investigations worldwide.   Cases CAIRO, 1548; ALTONA, 1709; HAMBURG, 1772; JERUSALEM, 1866; BROOKLYN, 1958

The people who asked the questions What do these questions reveal about our ancestors? What did they think, feel, and value? Explore five fascinating stories to find out.   Cases BARCELONA, 1300; ALGIERS, 1450; MODENA, 1530; ALGIERS, 1732; AUSCHWITZ, 1944

BESHALACH Seeing Beneath The Surface The most important clarification in a person’s life is the question: what am I chasing after? Am I merely nursing my wounds, or am I pursuing what I truly need? There is a cycle of need–wound–quick solution that only deepens the wound. A person does not receive what they need, a sense of lack is formed, and the wounded self chooses an immediate, available solut...

After a long and bitter exile, the unimaginable miracle occurred and the walls of Egypt collapsed before the Jews. A vast people went out to eternal freedom, on its way back to the inheritance of its forefathers. The Torah looks back and summarizes the number of years during which we left the Land of Israel and suffered in Egypt: 430. But there is a problem: it is impossible that we were in Egypt...

VAEIRA Egypt. Iran. The Mystery of the Ten Plagues There are parallels between the biblical plagues of Egypt and Iran's current crises. Just as Egypt suffered from water contamination, darkness, locusts, and hail, Iran now faces a decade-long drought causing water shortages, widespread power outages due to non-functioning power stations, an agricultural catastrophe from dried lakes and rivers,...

SHEMOS Where’s Your Donkey? There’s always been a tension between the divine and the profane; the spiritual and the material. Are they meant to be in a state of perennial conflict? Can there – and should there- be harmony between the body and the spirit? What is the Torah’s fascination with donkeys? Why does the Torah accord such prominence to the donkey, which among animals that carry humans is t...

VAYECHI The virtue of discipline. What were the odds of such a promise? Among the people of Israel there were many distinguished dynasties, and not one of them survived. The upheavals of history created especially formidable threats against the descendants of the House of David. Enemies struggled to annihilate them, and almost no descendant remained. Yet each time, a single survivor slipped away f...

VAYIGASH Did Yosef Forgive His Brothers? This Torah class examines whether Joseph truly forgave his brothers for selling him into slavery. It begins with a provocative parallel: a terrorist stabs someone, but doctors discover a life-saving tumor during surgery - does the attacker deserve gratitude like Joseph suggested to his brothers when he said God meant it for good? The text presents two oppos...

CHANUKAH Why the Macabbees found the oil. Matisyahu and the Chashmonaim confronted a challenge that remains deeply familiar: the difficulty of being different. A Jew stands apart in a world that values what can be seen, measured, and rationally grasped, while Torah speaks in the name of Elokus that transcends human intellect. Matisyahu embodied the courage to declare loyalty to a G-d beyond reason...

Lesson 6 I Mean Something, Therefore I Am Before you do anything, you are worthy. Discover Judaism’s empowering understanding of your inherent worth as an individual and as a Jew, and how it calls us to even greater achievement.

VAYEISHEV The Shepard v/s the Entrepreneur As we read in the Torah this week, Yosef has dreams of him and his brothers, they cause animosity and discord amongst them. How is it that these holy men, the eventual tribes of Israel can have such discord and commit to such hatred? We learn the back story of what was going on, what the dreams and their effect had, that cause the brothers to react as the...

Lesson 5 Meaning in the Unchosen Some things are clearly meaningful, but what if everything is? Explore a vision of life where every event and circumstance catalyzes growth and leads to greater purpose.

VAYISHLACH The Fear of the Dark Why does Yaakov speak with a diminished sense of self and disparage his spiritual merits precisely at the most difficult moments of his life, when he needs immense kindness from Heaven? Yaakov knew that this is how it works. One must go through a fall in order to leap upward, and that fall was about to happen now. Therefore he asks for mercy, that the temporary shri...

Lesson 4 Meaning in the Rhythms of Time As time flies by, is it just more of the same? Discover the rich texture of Jewish time, and how attuning ourselves to each moment’s message enables profound spiritual purpose.

VAYEITZEI The Beauty of Imperfection The turbulent marriage story of Yaakov with Rachel and Leah, and the Torah testifies that Hashem looked into the depths of Leah’s heart and saw that she felt hated. Hashem’s compassion was aroused for her, and her womb was opened to give birth to the main children of Yaakov. Although Leah wasn’t actually ‘hated’, the Torah emphasizes twice that Yaakov loved “al...

Meaning in the Mundane Even if it happens every day, daily life needn’t feel ordinary. See how every part of the day can be as significant as your highest aspirations. The Kabbalah of Meaning Jewish wisdom for finding the purpose that connects all parts of life Life is busy. What connects it all? Join this six-session course to discover Judaism’s timeless approach to meaning in life. You’ll hear a...

TOLDOT What's With The Wells We read in this weeks Tora Reading as Yitzchok dug wells. Why is this the only ting the Torah tells us about Yitzchok's life at length? Why dud he dig all these wells ? What lesson does this have for us in our lives?

To Make or Not to Make Meaning When life lacks luster, should we invent a more meaningful way of seeing things? Or is there already a purpose hiding in plain sight?

CHAYEI SARA Following the Script The concept of living with equanimity and faith through the life of Sarah, the matriarch. This introduces the central message: our lives are not stories we write ourselves, but rather stories that G-d orchestrates. We are actors on His stage, and our role is to do our best while trusting that the true good unfolds according to His plan, which sees far beyond our im...

Lesson 1 When we have it all, we still need something more: purpose. Discover four fundamental human qualities that provide lasting fulfillment.------------------ The Kabbalah of Meaning Jewish wisdom for finding the purpose that connects all parts of life Life is busy. What connects it all? Join this six-session course to discover Judaism’s timeless approach to meaning in life. You’ll hear answer...

VAYEIARA More Than Hospitality We are living through a crisis of meaning. What people need more than anything today is a sense of value—to feel important and needed. We live in a world where most people are not searching for food. Existence itself is taken for granted: water flows from the tap, and medicine provides solutions to most health problems. The struggle for existence today is about the q...

LECH LECHA What’s in a name? We’ve all heard the stories about baby-naming. Name after a grandparent? The meaning of names is an important topic. We all give names to our children for long life, and today we wish to discuss: what is a good name? And how does one even choose a name? We must therefore carefully examine the secret and meaning of names, and we will do so by looking at a major question...

NOACH What With The Water? The Flood is a strange story; Let us consider two fundamental questions about the story. First: Why destroy civilization through water?! Why would Hashem choose to bury existence by means of rain? We’re used to thinking of rain as a blessing, so why use a tool of blessing for curse? Second: why save Noach through an ark? Would it not have been simpler to transfer him to...

Why The Drama? What’s Kol Nidrei all about? Kol Nidrei is the most well-known prayer. It has become a symbol of Jewish identity and fills the synagogue seats even with people who do not set foot there the entire year. But the phenomenon is puzzling: what is the connection between its stirring melody and its content? What is it in it that awakens the soul? “Kol Nidrei” is nothing more than a legal...

Rosh Hashana The way to open the gates of Heaven is to do the right action at the right time. When we turn to Hashem at the time when the gates are open and perform the precise deed that draws down the energy we need, it is possible to bring about miracles and salvations that change lives. Our sages revealed to us a wondrous secret: Rosh Hashanah is the head of the year, and on it Hashem determine...